Jacob's journey to Haran and back chronicled in Genesis also coincided with his spiritual development. He had some encounters with the LORD. God spoke to him in dreams. Yet the LORD had not become His God at this point. He believed but He had not yet surrendered his will to the LORD.
In verse five he speaks of the LORD as "the God of my father." His relationship with the LORD at this point was largely through his father, Isaac.
God has no grandchildren- only children. You must be born again.
God is not a grandfather. He is a father- Our Father in Heaven.
In the book, The Problem With Pain, C.S. Lewis writes that we would like to think of God as a Grandfather and most people do, but He is a Father, the Father.
Fathers set boundaries, have rules that if broken have consequences. Being a father is 24-7... working to support his family. Fathers are with us, legally responsible for us.
Grandfathers hand out candy and buy ice cream. They have fun with their grandkids and if they are being trained correctly at home seldom if ever have to do anything with discipline with their grandkids. They don't require much. Father's do and that is the way it ought to be.
Jacob looked at the LORD as the God of his father because
1.Jacob had no yet arrived at a place of full surrender. vs.1-5
He was still grasping heels. He was still trying hard to run the show and outwit his relatives who were over him.
The LORD was the God of his father. The major reason he is down there in Haran is because He stole his brother Esau's birthright. He had not yet surrendered.
God will not force us to bow to Him- that day is coming where every knee will bow but it is not yet here. In this present time God calls but we must respond.
Jacob was running out of options, tricks up his sleeve. He is coming to the end of himself. It was distressful for Jacob but God was working out his plan in this man.
2. The God of My Father is My God. 32.24-26
Abram's name was changed to Abraham.
Jacob's name to Israel at Peniel- the Face of God.
The God of my father becomes my God when I surrender to Him.
He changes my nature. He writes my name down in heaven I am born again.
I remember when the God of my father became my God. It was November 22, 1963. The earth was shaken that day. President Kennedy/ C.S. Lewis. In the life of this guy my heart was turned toward heaven. I knelt and asked Christ Jesus to become my Savior.
My father, my dad, has had (and still does) an enormous influence on me. He is a one woman man, sincere, a man of integrity, seeking first God's kingdom. He has a hatred of sin. Much of what I learned about the LORD in my formative years came from my dad. Although he was my Sunday School teacher for a number of years when I was a teen, it was more from being with him that had the greater influence. I worked with him on his WISE Potato Chip Route in Brooklyn. I watched him pray over our deli sandwiches for lunch in the truck. I saw storekeepers just sign bills instead of checking him in (they knew he was honest). I saw him get upset but I never heard my dad use the LORD's Name in vain. I went to him for his last day of work on his 65th birthday, 18 years ago, January 14, 1992.
The God of my father has become my God, my grandfather and my great grandfather's God as well.
3. Will You God Become Your Children's God? III John 4
He ought to. I'm in church this morning- but that is not enough. It has to be lived out the other 167 days in the week.
Pass the torch: Parents, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles- Lee Milligan- 96 years old Friday went home to be with the LORD.
Jacob saw his father's faith and his grandfather's (He was 15 years old when Abraham died). I am sure he heard his story, the history of this family- Grandpa Mancini- Nana- give your kids a godly heritage!
The LORD became known as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Father of many nations, Laughter, and the Heal Grasper who became Governed by God
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